The Golden Globes have announced their new set of members to join their organization, marking the largest class in their history.
Of the 21 new members, their demographic breakdowns are as follows:
- 48% identify as women
- 29% identify as Black
- 24% identify as Asian
- 29% identify as Latinx
- 19% identify as Middle Eastern/North African
The 21 journalists, which resulted from an outreach effort by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, increased the current membership by 20%. The organization anticipates adding a similar-sized group in 2022.
“We are thrilled to welcome these new members into our family,” said HFPA president Helen Hoehne. “We are building a new organization, one that is not focused on fulfilling quotas, but instead has diversity and inclusion at its core.”
“As a committee, we’re proud of this first-class we’ve invited to join the reimagined HFPA. They’re a group of well-respected journalists from around the world who will bring a variety of unique perspectives to this organization,” said Credential Committee member Tre’vell Anderson.
The members of the HFPA Class of 2021 are:
- Raffi Boghosian, Al Arabiya
- Kelley Carter, ESPN (Global)
- David Caspi, Israel Hayom
- Yong Chavez, ABS-CBN
- Andrés Correa Guatarasma, El Universal
- Earl Gibson III, Associated Press
- Eun Seon Ha, KOFIC
- Hamdy Howaida, El Akhbar
- Itsuko Hirai, Movie Walker Press
- K.J. Matthews, DW-TV
- Juan Navarro, Televisa
- Jânio Carlos Vieira Nazareth, Cinépop
- Ruben Peralta-Rigaud, SensaCine
- Gerardo Prat, ¡HOLA! TV
- Kimberly Reyes, Film Ireland
- Mico Saad, TeN TV
- Asel Sherniyazova, AKIpress News Agency
- Gabriel Silva Lamboglia, El País
- Miriam Spritzer, L’Officiel Brasil
- Mario Pacheco Székely, El Universal
- Yuko Yoshikawa, Cinema Today
The new members can immediately vote on the Golden Globes, vote on future board elections and serve on committees. The new members will have voting rights for 10 years. In addition, at the close of each membership selection, the HFPA will publicly disclose the names, country representation and the diversity demographics of its membership.
Embroiled in scandal and scrutiny since the revelation that none of its 87 membership (at the time) was Black, the group began reforms in April following the NBC cancellation of this year’s ceremony. After instituting many new policies, including banning of gifts and paid travel, a new code of conduct and a requirement for every member to complete DEI training (which not all members have yet completed), the organization is hopeful this will signal to critics that it is walking the road to redemption.
Since April, the HFPA has installed the following: a new president (German journalist Helen Hoehne), a new Board of Directors, with the addition of three outside non-members, 12 member directors, and a credentials committee with five non-members and an advisory board.
The HFPA is expected to announce a new CEO in the coming weeks, along with plans to employ a new Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Human Resource Officer and Chief Diversity Officer.
In May, the 85-member HFPA announced a timeline that would overhaul the organization. In July, the HFPA approved the new set of bylaws proposed to reform the organization, recruit more diverse and inclusive members, and address the ethics and accountability issues that have long swirled around the organization.